But Eileen Gu is the classic American Capitalist. She follows where the (sponsorship) money is. Expert at her sport AND doublespeak. She's living her American Dream!

It's not kowtowing to China. It's just "smart business" if you take off that racist lens.

If Walmart is so patriotic, then they can stop sourcing from China.

If the American Auto Industry is so patriotic, they can stop buying their parts from China.

If Corporate America is so patritotic, they can stop opening up factories in China.

China's not forcing shit on America. It's America that love lapping up the cheapest shit they can find in China and beyond. Corporate America is not willing to pay a fair wage in America, they're even less willing to pay of living wage anywhere else, many forcing a "996" work schedule on staff (https://www.npr.org/2021/08/30/1032458104/12-hour-6-day-996-work-schedule-illegal-china-deaths-tech-industry).

"China"... it's an American addiction. Not the other way around.

I don't get how Trump and the GOP say the Democrats need to be willing to negotiate. They are offering $1.6 Billion in additional funding. But Trump is acting like Veruca Salt, and stomping his feet, saying he wants $5.7 Billion, and he wants it now. That's not how negotiations work. You want $5.7, they offer $1.6, you come down to say $4.6, they come back at $2.3, you come back with $4 and permanent residence status for Dreamers, they come back with $3 and permanent resident status, then you meet at $3.5 and permanent resident status. You don't just keep acting like a child throwing a temper tantrum and demanding the $5.7, and if you don't get it, the other side is the one's being unreasonable.

The "Pro-life" party, that loves the death penalty and war, so not really pro-life at all, is now holding millions of Americans (800k, plus their families, plus the millions of people who depend on those services) hostage in an act of economic terrorism, until the other side fully caves into their demands. They are the ones not willing to negotiate, but are doing some 1984 level doublespeak, and blaming it all on the Democrats. And the Fox News types are eating it up, which is probably why Trump thinks he's winning. "Just look. Steve says I'm doing good and that all real Americans support me."

They need to pass a law, that Congress, their aids and staff, the President, their aids and staff, the White House aids and staff... all don't get paid on any shutdown. If they've already given up their salary (I love how Trump followers commend Trump for giving up his salary, while ignoring he makes more a year off the Secret Service than he would in years of salary) then they have to reimburse that salary they would have made in that time. Congress and the President may not take back pay, and it takes a 60% vote to authorize the aids and staff back pay, but only if all other Federal workers also get their back pay first in a separate and prior authorization.

I appreciate your response to my question earlier, @bobknight33.

I don't mean to try to drag you back into the thread here if you're trying to disengage -- I dunno what you mean by #walkaway. Anyway, this doesn't require a response.

I largely agree with you on the specific subtopic of both parties being pretty dirty and frequently engaging in "government theater" just to draw attention to trivialities while promoting their own self interests. I also largely agree with Trump being a "true outsider" in the sense that he holds no particular allegiance to party machinations, etc.

However, even though I was willing to give him a chance after the election, at this point I have zero trust in Trump's intentions. Trumps friends -- the "best people" -- have this interesting trend of becoming his detractors and enemies. Trump wants us to accept the word of people that vouch for him, but days, weeks, or months later they fall out of favor and suddenly he says that they are scum and we shouldn't listen to a word they say.

That's a "cry wolf" or "fool me once" sort of problem. Sessions, the guy you mentioned as protecting Trump from the "witch hunt", has been pretty relentlessly bashed by Trump for the weighty offense of allowing investigators to investigate. Giuliani spouts nonsense, doublespeak and contradictions. Huckabee-Sanders refuses to answer very basic questions from the press (which is her job) not because they misquote her or take things out of context (which would be legitimate gripes) but because she's been bitten in the ass a few too many times by people pointing out blatant contradictions in Trump's statements. And that's just the current people.
There's a large list of short-term Trump appointments that end up out of favor.

What all that stuff says to me is ... "something is rotten in the state of Denmark". Is it possible that there's a vast conspiracy against him in the media, justice department, etc.? Um, well, maybe -- but Occam's Razor tells me that other possibilities are rather more likely. Like, for example, that Trump being a "true outsider" doesn't preclude him from holding the same self-serving motivations that are unfortunately common in slimy career politicians. That he acts shady and dirty because he is shady and dirty.

I dunno. It just seems like it takes a lot of work to keep up with Trump's revolving door of steadfast allies that become traitorous enemies.

"Defence capability" is similar doublespeak to what we use in German, but in case of an aircraft carrier, it really is just irritating to speak of defence.

Anyways, what's the latest on these puppies? STOVL or CATOBAR? I haven't read a thing about it in years, ever since the F-35 went horribly over budget for the umpteenth time.

CATOBAR and F-35C was the last I heard, but that was quite some time ago.

Yes, I'm deeply biased in favour of Greece and have been a fan of Varoufakis' work since one of the first drafts of his "Modest Proposal" back in 2010.

That said, look at the report used as an introduction to this interview. The doublespeak behind structural reform alone is enough to discard any claims of objectivity or impartiality.

George Monbiot had a piece on it just last week: Our ‘impartial’ broadcasters have become mouthpieces of the elite.

Wow. That is just scary doublespeak. It's like you can look up and see the sky is blue, and everyone can tell you the sky is blue, but you'll argue that's a ruse by the GOP and actually the sky is yellow because the "Retardicans" kept lying that it was blue so it must be yellow. It's just scary and sad.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. And yes, international law does protect the right of people the resist their occupiers. However, this is a bit more than a "ghetto uprising" because a political group (Hamas) has formed and claimed to have some control over a territory and the people of that territory. Actually let me back up, even if that weren't true, it wouldn't matter for the point I want to make.

Armed combatants in a violent conflict, whether international or non-international, whether they are party to the conventions or not, are bound by international humanitarian law to uphold the Geneva conventions. “The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against the dangers arising from military operations.” This places a requirement on armed actors to take reasonable steps to separate their military activities from the civilian population.

However, if people knowingly and willingly stay in place in order to serve as a human shield to military activities, then they can no longer be considered "hors de combat" (outside of combat) and become legitimate targets. The problem here is that Hamas will always say they are innocent people being killed, that Hamas does not launch attacks from residential areas, and that no one is being forced to stay to act as a human shield. Israel will always say that rockets were launched from there and they had no choice but to attack in order to "degrade" military capabilities.

BUT, humanitarian law aside (sorry, it's one of my things) I think it is disgusting doublespeak that Israelis can actually convince themselves that Hamas is killing Palestinians by making Israel fire weapons into densely populated areas. That is disturbing and distressing rationalization that they explain away by saying that there are thousands of rockets being fired on their cities, never once acknowledging that not a single one of those rockets has landed and hurt someone.

Why the term "metadata" is doublespeak: http://hackingdistributed.com/2013/08/02/metadata/

"So the intelligence community, which never met-a-data that it didn't want to collect, should drop the whole metadata charade." <-

What the hell just happened? I feel like I got transported back in time, accidentally voted for her to be Alaskan governor and woke up naked in an ally in present day missing one of my kidneys! Damn doublespeak! Damn you Palin!

>> ^marbles:

Good luck with that. Not that it's going to solve any problems.
I'd prefer we do away with the national theater of political campaigns all together and roll back the federal authority to it's original limitations.
And start attacking the shadow corporate government directly like ending it's continuous money tree called the Federal Reserve.>> ^MaxWilder:
I'd prefer to see some legislation put forward by citizens to enact public campaign financing, and some voting system reforms to end first-past-the-post.



Not going to solve any problems? It would eliminate the cash for favors system that corrupts all levels of elected officials!

And a Condorcet voting system would allow for elections of people who are rational centrists rather than extremists who block Congress from taking any action on any issues of substance!

I'm not opposed to returning some power to the states, but that does nothing to reduce the stranglehold that mega-corporations have over the political spectrum. And for the most part, "shrinking the role of Federal government" is just conservative doublespeak for ending social security, medicare, and every other useful thing the federal government does. I'd like to see the mess we would get into if the states all tried to provide their own defense! But that's not what you mean when you say "roll back the federal authority", is it?

I'm starting to think you are just being willfully ignorant.

The Foundation absolutely has to disclose where the money went. Just because some troll on the internet doesn't have access to the numbers doesn't mean we don't have strict gaming laws. It means we have strict access to information laws.
>> ^marbles:


How would you know what Doublespeak means when you're actively engaging in it?
So the BC Children's Hospital Foundation doesn't have to disclose where any of the money went, only pay out 25% and this is "strict gaming laws"? LOL ok pal.


>> ^marbles:


O RLY?
What you and @Skeeve don't seem to realize is it doesn't matter if it's taken "off the top" or from the winnings, you're still paying the tax. Just like it doesn't matter if the house adds the vig up front or takes it in a form of a rake, you're still paying the juice.


And no one here said they aren't paying the tax... in fact that's all we've been saying. You seem to think there is some scam or fraud going on, and we've been saying that the "missing" money was paid in taxes - taxes that would be paid in any lottery in the world.

I'm done here. I'm thinking you are just a troll looking for an argument - there's no point in continuing this discussion.

>> ^Skeeve:

I don't think Doublespeak means what you think it means.
As for what the tax is called, I'm not sure, but I think most of it is just plain old GST.
With regards to the disclosure, most of that information is protected by Section 21 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, so without FOI request you aren't going to find out. You can find audit reports of various raffles and lotteries at the Ministry of Public Safety's website but they will be redacted to adhere to the freedom of info laws.
Anyway, it's not a scam or fraud - they are audited regularly to ensure compliance with the rather strict gaming laws.

How would you know what Doublespeak means when you're actively engaging in it?

So the BC Children's Hospital Foundation doesn't have to disclose where any of the money went, only pay out 25% and this is "strict gaming laws"? LOL ok pal.

>> ^marbles:

>> ^Skeeve:
@marbles I imagine a significant portion of it went to the BC government as tax (with a small percentage of that going to the federal government). Lottery winnings are not taxable in Canada, so the government takes a hefty sum off the top.
Thankfully a significant portion of the government's gaming revenue goes back into the community.

Thanks for the lesson in Doublespeak. So what is this tax called?
Even if so, there's no disclosure about where the other money went. And really there's more than 3.3 mil missing since I just subtracted the retail value of the prizes. There's a long list of "suppliers and sponsors" that donated prizes or sold prizes at cost.


Absence of proof is not proof of absence. Just because the news show didn't say, doesn't mean the information is unavailable. Also, there is no concrete reason to assume validity on the report. Fox News should have shown everyone that at least.

Also, when @Skeeve said "winnings are not taxable" they meant the recipient is not taxed, the lottery is. Lottery takes in 10mil, government takes 5mil, winner gets prize of 5mil. Unlike the US, where the tax burden is on the recipient, which only really makes the lottery look better. Powerball is kinda lame that way. "biggest payout" but you lose over half almost immediately. I like the Canadian lottery system, you keep what you kill.

I don't think Doublespeak means what you think it means.

As for what the tax is called, I'm not sure, but I think most of it is just plain old GST.

With regards to the disclosure, most of that information is protected by Section 21 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, so without FOI request you aren't going to find out. You can find audit reports of various raffles and lotteries at the Ministry of Public Safety's website but they will be redacted to adhere to the freedom of info laws.

Anyway, it's not a scam or fraud - they are audited regularly to ensure compliance with the rather strict gaming laws.>> ^marbles:

>> ^Skeeve:
@marbles I imagine a significant portion of it went to the BC government as tax (with a small percentage of that going to the federal government). Lottery winnings are not taxable in Canada, so the government takes a hefty sum off the top.
Thankfully a significant portion of the government's gaming revenue goes back into the community.

Thanks for the lesson in Doublespeak. So what is this tax called?
Even if so, there's no disclosure about where the other money went. And really there's more than 3.3 mil missing since I just subtracted the retail value of the prizes. There's a long list of "suppliers and sponsors" that donated prizes or sold prizes at cost.

>> ^Skeeve:

@marbles I imagine a significant portion of it went to the BC government as tax (with a small percentage of that going to the federal government). Lottery winnings are not taxable in Canada, so the government takes a hefty sum off the top.
Thankfully a significant portion of the government's gaming revenue goes back into the community.


Thanks for the lesson in Doublespeak. So what is this tax called?

Even if so, there's no disclosure about where the other money went. And really there's more than 3.3 mil missing since I just subtracted the retail value of the prizes. There's a long list of "suppliers and sponsors" that donated prizes or sold prizes at cost.